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Vic woman gets 8 yrs for partner's death

Melissa Iaria

A Victorian woman who struck her abusive partner 16 times with a pickaxe, buried him in the backyard and lied about his fate for more than four years has been jailed.

Angela Maree Williams, 45, shed tears in the dock on Friday as she was sentenced to eight years behind bars for fatally attacking her partner of 23 years, Douglas Kally, in 2008.

Williams was cleared by a Victorian Supreme Court jury of murder but found guilty of defensive homicide.

The court heard that after attacking Mr Kally with a pickaxe, Williams wrapped his body in a tarpaulin and buried him in the backyard of their Indented Head home.

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For more than four years, Williams lied about Mr Kally's whereabouts, saying he went interstate, abandoning her and their two children.

She confessed in 2012, saying she had long suffered domestic violence at his hands and on the day of the killing felt in danger for her life.

Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth said she was satisfied Kally was controlling, belittling and physically and psychologically abusive towards Williams for many years.

But her crime featured serious aggravating features, such as lying about his whereabouts and hiding his body for years, showing a lack of remorse.

"Even if you initially did that out of a sense of fear or panic, you were acting to conceal his body and protect yourself from discovery," she said.

The judge also had no doubt the couple's children exaggerated some of their evidence to help Williams.

Williams is set to be the last Victorian woman convicted of defensive homicide if laws before parliament to abolish the defence are passed, in place of a new test for self-defence.

The Federation of Community Legal Centres is concerned if defensive homicide is abolished, there will be no legal safety net in Victoria for domestic violence victims who kill, leading more women to be convicted of murder.

But Victorian government spokesman Mark Lee accused it of scaremongering, saying the changes will close a loophole which has allowed it to be abused by violent men.

In the 28 of 31 times the defence has been used, it has allowed violent men who were abusers in a relationship to obtain reduced sentences, he said.

The government says its legislation will introduce a simpler test for self-defence so if a person acts in genuine and reasonable self-defence, they will be acquitted.

Williams will serve a minimum five years' jail. Her sentence takes into account one year and five months she has already spend in custody.